Parallels
by The Nightly Ninja
Summary: Hiro and Cass have more in common than they used to think.
1. Chapter 1

Hiro's fifteenth birthday wasn't the happy experience that he'd always planned his birthdays to be. It was full of a lot of crying and grief and Hiro felt as though Tadashi had just died again; it was his first birthday without his brother, a few months after the first triumph of Big Hero 6. He'd managed to fix Baymax the morning before, but even that wasn't enough to cheer him up anymore; Hiro would never get goofy cards or wake-up calls from his brother on this day ever again and it was weighing on him, pressing down on his chest until he couldn't breathe, squeezing thick tears from his eyes like juice from an orange. His friends and aunt did try to help, but Hiro eventually just asked them to go. Not wanting to upset him more, his friends shuffled off to the classes he'd be skipping and his aunt returned to her cafe without a word about school, knowing why he didn't want to go.

Late in the afternoon, Hiro was working on Baymax alone in his garage, just finishing up his last diagnostic on the robots inner workings, which confirmed that the bot was in perfect working order. Just as the positive results were given and baymax began to announce that Hiro's neurotransmitters were low, there came a knocking at the door. "There is someone requesting entrance." Baymax commented, though the 15 year old didn't respond; he simply dragged his feet to the front door (of the house) and opened it, though he immediately lost his depressed look to confusion, for standing in from of his was a lady that dressed even worse than ms. Matsuda.

Her ratty green hair had obviously been dyed and ironed way too many times because it was dry and stuck in big zigzagged chunks, her almost non-existent shorts were full of holes to show battered lacy underwear, and her shirt was a leopard print bikini top, despite her thick muffin top and obvious implants. Worst of all though, was her face; caught in a permanent sneer, she looked at him as though he was the dirt beneath her fat, heeled feet as she took a long drag from her cigarette, she suddenly spoke in a horribly high, scratchy voice that didn't have any volume control, "DoES TADasHI LIVe 'ERe?" And Hiro felt like he'd been punched in the gut.

"He's dead." He managed to faint, hoarse whisper. The woman immediately made a loud noise like this was a horrible inconvenience to her and Hiro was about to shout at her when he noticed something behind her; a small child, probably about four, that was nearly a carbon copy of the brother Hiro had lost.

A bit gobsmacked Hiro nearly missed the next thing she 'said', "DId jA KNoW i'M?"

"Uh... he was my brother..."

"Do YA waNt 'iM thEN?" She asked/banshee-screeched, pulling the kid out from behind her earning a quiet whimper of pain from him, "THis ThiNG 'AInT NutTin' BuT a THorN In My sYDe."

Hiro's mind jumped back to an event a bit less than 5 years prior, the morning after Tadashi's High School graduation; when they'd found the 17 year old passed out in a ditch near his school with no recollection of the night after the ceremony. Apparently, Hiro now knew what his brother had gotten up to, or rather into. After Baymax checked, Hiro quickly took the child and adoption paperwork from the 26 year old New Yorker, who apparently couldn't afford to come back to San Fran again until now.

Very quickly, Hiro found himself alone with a 4-year-old who refused to speak. He also didn't know how to tell aunt Cass that he'd just taken in Tadashi's illegitimate son without speaking a word to her, despite the fact that she'd ultimately be the one to adopt him. Finding no other fixable problems, Hiro began his work of coaxing his NEPHEW out of his shell. The word in his mind was odd, used to describe someone other than himself or the child's FATHER. More words that felt out-of-place in his mind.

Shaking the distracted thoughts from his already jumbled head, he focused on the English on the adoption papers, hunting down a name for his new little-

"Thing?" Immediately after he'd said it, Hiro's nephew raised his bowed head, and the teen felt horror twist his gut and expression, "she named you... THING?" The boy simply nodded and Hiro felt his blood boil. Still, he forced himself not to tear apart the paperwork that would take him away from that, instead he placed the already fairly stained and crumpled papers onto a table in the entrance hall and threw a not-temper-tantrum before turning a weak smile to the 4 year old, who seemed a bit scared of Hiro's demonstration. _Great job knucklehead; now could you stop traumatizing him?_ Hiro quickly attempted to calm the boy down, though he didn't have much to relax him with. In desperation Hiro took a deep breath and asked 'Thing' to do the same, before saying, "I'm sorry for scaring you, I was just upset that you mother wasn't... let's just say your dad wouldn't have wanted you to be treated the way I'm guessing you were." Hiro was given a skeptical look before the boy's eyes returned to his feet. "Okay, well since your name is technically a word, I'm gonna rename you." His head came up again when Hiro stepped out in front of him so that they were facing each other. Grabbing his own wrist and extending one finger, he gently tapped each of his nephew's shoulders as he said, "I HIRO OF HAMADA HEREBY DUB THEE..." an eyebrow raised at him in his pause, though an amused smile tugged at the lips. A look the teen had seen so many times on a much older face. "T-Tadashi the second." Disregarding the stumble, Tadashi II grinned widely, the 'the second' part making it clear to him that he'd been named after his father.

For the thousandth time that morning, T2's thoughts strayed to his (apparently late) father. While he was a tad disappointed that they'd never meet, that his dad probably didn't even know he was alive, he supposed it was for the best: you can't be disappointed by someone you didn't know existed.

Once again, his thoughts were interrupted; his "uncle" was asking him if he wanted lunch. At his nod yes, Uncle Hiro consulted his paperwork before grinning down at him. They were both allergic to peanuts. Funny. Hiro asked, but T2 didn't have a favorite food, so he just shrugged.

45 minutes later and 2 burned sandwiches in the sink, T2 was eating what was probably the best grilled-cheese of his life (not saying much, but he still appreciated it.). Throughout the meal, Hiro continued his attempts at conversation and as the sandwich disappeared, the younger of the 2 was slowly tempted to answer; Hiro seemed nice, had taken him in and was apparently his uncle. His lack of response was obviously bothering the teen, but he was still more than a little apprehensive.

 _He's nice now, nicer than anyone has ever been to me before, but what if I say something wrong? What if he starts to hate me like my mother did? He seemed upset about it, but what if I make him start treating me the way she did? Best to just stay quiet; discomfort and hate are very different_. Though The child's stoic expression was like an open book to Hiro, and an old favorite at that. Hiro could see that his nephew was at war with himself, berating himself and forcing himself to be uncomfortable. Knowing this, Hiro finished washing the pan and led T2 over to the couch after he pulled out a favorite photo album. The birthday boy plopped down on the couch and indicated for Tadashi II, who remained standing, to sit down. He sat at the other end of the couch, though Hiro ignored this detail, knowing it would change.

So, Hiro began to tell the stories of the photo album, and, just as predicted, T2 was practically in his lap, eyes drinking each of the images for the next 4 hours as Uncle Hiro told him about the great man his dad was (disregarding the fact that his dad had been 17 when he was born.).

Hiro was moving for a new album, Tadashi II bouncing up and down in excitement for more stories when they heard it: the subtle tap of feminine footsteps moving up the stairs to the second floor landing, the loose sole accenting every other step as The Decider came towards them. Hiro was more worried about her reaction, knowing she wouldn't throw flesh and blood out in the street, but T2 didn't, and was nervously fidgeting as Cass appeared over the top step, head bowed as she undid the ties on her apron. "So I was thinking-and I know you didn't want anything special but anyway- how about my special-" though she'd looked up by then, her eyes immediately focusing on the toddler.


	2. Chapter 2

Cass stared at the small child sitting beside her nephew, who uttered a nervous laugh as he stood up, arms raised in a placating gesture, "Aunt Cass…" he said when she pointed and began to stutter and stammer. "This… This is Tadashi's son…"

Cass froze at that, and turned her attention to Hiro, who, unbeknownst to his nephew, was well beyond 'overjoyed' at his sudden appearance. The teen's eyes were misty and there was a big shaky smile on his face, as though he still couldn't believe that something so good had happened. _Just like Tadashi_ , the aging woman thought to herself, _even after he's dead and gone, he's still keeping his brother happy._ She moved around Hiro, listening to his passing warning, and went to sit near her grandnephew for the first time. Just as Hiro had said, 'Tadashi the second' was very paranoid of strangers, despite the fact that they shouldn't have been so in the first place. Still, Cass was determined to change that as she slowly reached for a hug, moving in slowly enough not to feel intimidating, and leaving it light enough for him to wriggle out should he want to. Though not immediately, he did eventually return the hug, after an encouraging look from Hiro.

The typically bubbly woman was careful about her volume and physical contact all night, though she dumped extras on Hiro to emphasize that he was okay about it, so T2 could be too. Later on, Cass spent nearly an hour in the kitchen, watching Hiro and Tadashi2 interact, watching the boy gradually allow more and more physical contact. For dinner, T2 didn't eat much, and when Cass asked why, he simply shook his head. After a few more attempts they all decided that they would go to bed.

* * *

Hiro could loan his own old Pj's. He could skip his own shower to save the hot water for T2. He could force back another temper-tantrum when he caught sight of T2's burn-scars in the mirror.

He couldn't give away Tadashi's room.

Not in one night anyway, thus he gave away his bed to the child who was too tired to bother with his already-typical paranoia. The kid was out like a light, but Hiro spent a few more hours in the pale light of his phone, reading and re-reading through the paperwork, Tadashi's notebooks, even his own journal to get some history on the boy. Tadashi1's actual knowledge about his child was in question, and Hiro couldn't find any indication that Tadashi KNEW he was a dad. It was saddening that Tadashi, who had always seemed like he would be the best dad EVER, who had always wanted to be a dad, had never even MET his child, known he was out there. Every few minutes Hiro would glance up from his reading material to his nephew and allow an involuntary smile onto his face, even when he left his birthday, even as he approached 5 am, when he finally laid himself down in his sleeping bag to go to sleep.

Though he couldn't give that smile when he was suddenly in front of that building again, and couldn't smile as he watched both Tadashi AND his nephew vanish into the inferno. His face was twisted into a look of horror as he was forced to watch both corpses twist and shrivel to nothing as they screamed his name in desperation. They were desperate for help that Hiro, as usual, couldn't give. Though something about watching this happen to his nephew was even worse than his normal nightmares; was FAR beyond what he could handle.

Eventually they were both dead, and Hiro was the one burning and sobbing in pain and remorse when a coolness, a touch came onto his shoulder, along with the faint whisper of a near heavenly voice. "Oji-san." It whispered two or three times, before, "wake-up." Abruptly pulled Hiro from his nightmare and judo-flipped him back into his sleeping bag, from where he could see his perfectly-alright nephew leaning over him. After a few shaky breaths, Hiro quietly apologized and excused himself so he could take a shower to wash away the thick sheen of cold sweat and his overwhelming embarrassment.

When the teen returned though he found that Tadashi2 was a lot like his dad, and had stayed up to wait for him. "Hi…" he murmured.

"Hi." Hiro answered back.

"are you okay…?" the boy nearly whispered.

"fine." He murmured back, not wanting to worry him, "just a bad dream. We all get 'em." The boy nodded, and after a moment, he jumped from his seat on the bed and pulled his uncle over to it. After Hiro got the gist of what he was trying to do, he laid himself down and as he reached for his nephew the way Cass had shown him, the boy threw himself at his uncle, apparently more desperate for the offered contact than Hiro was.

"What was your bad dream about?" the boy murmured hesitantly, and before Hiro could tell him it was no big deal, he recalled that _'We all get 'em.'_ And realized that he might not have been what woke up T2.

"It was about the night I lost your dad, and then about losing you too." He said, not willing to give the traumatic details to a four-year-old. "What was yours about?"

"…A… a witch…" he lied, though he was as bad as Tadashi and Hiro could tell.

"Nice try. What really?" a minute of silence and Hiro sighed, "I need you to trust me buddy. We just met, but I'm not going to bite, or stab you in the back or anything. Promise."

An embarrassed smile and, "… that you… that you hated me." Hiro returned the smile and kissed his nephew on the head.

"Well guess what?"

"What?"

"I love you too much," a gasp, "I could never hate you."

"N-never?" he asked, shocked.

"Never-ever-ever." Hiro smiled, "remember that; I might get upset with you, but I couldn't hate you. I love you, Tadashi."

A tearful smile and that angelic little voice spoke again; "I love you too, Oji!" and the grip around his torso tightened and Hiro tightened his own in response. Hiro waited a moment before humming a wordless lullaby that Tadashi once sang him, ferrying his nephew to more cheerful dreams in minutes. Though Hiro's mind was stuck on his choice of name. _You named him after his dead father, way to jinx him._ After a short movie called 'painful deaths for you nephew' screened on the backs of his eyelids, Hiro pulled up his phone and desperately searched _Japanese Names that mean long lived,_ eventually finding Hisao.

Hisao Tadashi Hamada. He'd run it by aunt Cass in the morning, but Hiro had a feeling his name would stick.


End file.
